Gamers logo

The Elder Scrolls: Legends

Should Hearthstone panic?

By Aaron McArthurPublished 7 years ago 3 min read
Like
Heroes of Skyrim Expansion Trailer

When I first started playing The Elder Scrolls: Legends, all I could see were its similarities to Blizzard's Hearthstone, but the more I played the more I realised there were just as many differences between the two games.

Functionally very similar to each other, when The Elder Scrolls: Legends pulls away from Hearthstone it pulls away sharply.

Legends opens with a short cut-scene, doing some world building, though if you are familiar with The Elder Scrolls series then the locations will be instantly recognisable, as well as the races portrayed. Legends asks you to pick a character avatar and depending on this choice you gain different cards at a higher rate (I chose Dark Elf because I always do in Elder Scrolls games).

After this, you are thrust into the action, and it was at this point I began to feel like Bethesdahad purely made a clone. The game board, the interface, everything seemed to me like Hearthstone but with an Elder Scrolls coat of paint; the first couple of missions feel like this as well. Not off to a great start. Though I will say this, winning a match in Legends somehow feels more rewarding than in Hearthstone. It's something I can't put my finger on, but if I had to hazard a guess I would put it down to gaining more rewards per victory and levelling up, especially in the single-player content, which rewards you with new decks and cards at a satisfying pace.

When things started to get really different, mechanically, was when the game board was split into two "Lanes" adding a higher level of strategy than is present in Hearthstone. Lanes can have effects on them, my favourite I have seen so far is the "Windy Lane" meaning that cards played in that lane will be blown to the other lane at the start of your turn, if both lanes are windy, things can get really entertaining, really fast.

Card keywords are something that both games do, but I feel like The Elder Scrolls: Legends does them better, offering more choice in keywords and some that affect the game in major ways. One such keyword is Prophecy. Each player has 30 life and five runes, when a player loses five health they lose a rune and draw a card from their deck. If that card is a Prophecy card, it can be played for free, right then and there. Some Prophecy cards are very powerful and have a high Magicka (Legends' version of mana) cost, allowing the damaged player to turn the tide back in their favour, depending on the card drawn. Some Prophecy cards are just your normal minion card but some are big beefy dudes with Guard(Legends' version of Taunt)meaning creatures in that lane must attack that first.

Not only do I give The Elder Scrolls: Legends the edge on card versatility through keywords, I also have to give it the edge when it comes to the amount of card types there are. Minions, supports, actions, and items. While both games have the same number of card types, Legends has a more varied pool to draw from.

Creatures are your basic units that you will use to attack your enemy and his or her creatures. Action cards cause additional effects, such as destroying an enemy minion instantly or dealing more damage to a targeted creature or enemy hero. Item cards can be used to boost the attack and defence values of your minions. Support cards are the more interesting cards found in Legends, offering additional and long lasting effects to your minions, some supports can be used more than once, allowing you to, for example, give a creature on your side of the board +1/+1 for three turns in a row.

While the games feel and play similarly, there are enough differences between them for them to coexist peacefully. In my first three hours of Legends I had a lot more fun than I had had in my last three hours of Hearthstone.

adventure gamesproduct review
Like

About the Creator

Aaron McArthur

I'm 29, living in Scotland, I have a degree in Digital Publishing and Visual Communication but have always enjoyed writing, primarily reviews and articles in the gaming sphere, ranging from indie games to triple A games and all in between

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.